Things went so well for the Chicago &
North Western that the main line through Evanston grew congested, with
fast passenger trains intermixing with slower freight trains. In
1889, the Junction Railroad
Company, a C&NW subsidiary established for construction purposes,
built a bypass from a point
on the
C&NW main line near Simpson
Street and Green Bay Road that ran southwest
along the western bank of "The Big Ditch" (a predecessor to today's
North Shore Channel) through wide open,
unsettled land to the Mayfair
Junction in Chicago; this line was known
as the Mayfair Cut-Off. [Stenett, p.
104] The Mayfair Cut-Off allowed
the freight traffic to be routed around populated areas and
freed up the main line for passenger trains, allowing them to make
better time. The line also served several industrial customers in the
area. Within a couple of years, a second leg of the cutoff was
constructed just south of the first, forming a "wye" at the junction
with the main line (known
as Canal
Junction).

The
wye at Canal Junction. The Mayfair Cut-Off runs down to the left; the
C&NW main line runs from the lower right to the upper left.
Photo courtesy Illinois State Geological Survey,

In addition, a railcar storage and
engine servicing facility called the Weber
Yard was
constructed just north of Oakton Street. The Weber Yard and the
surrounding industrial area was named by and for Barney Weber, who
owned a brick yard in the area as well as his own
"railroad," the Chicago & West Ridge. The C&WR was actually a
rail
spur branching off the Mayfair Cut-Off near Oakton Street and
continuing south, at one time as far as Lincoln Avenue, to serve
Weber's brick yard and other industries. The C&NW built this track
in 1896 and Weber purchased it in 1897, although the C&NW bought it
back in January, 1917.

Although the Mayfair Cut-Off was
intended primarily
for freight trains, the Evanston village trustees knew that the new
rail line would increase property values and residential settlement on
Evanston's west side, and, with some urging from the various property
owners along the proposed route, required the C&NW to also build
passenger depots and run at least two daily passenger trains along the
new line. Passenger stops were constructed at Emerson Street, Greenwood
Boulevard, and the Weber yard.

According to an 1897 timetable, there were three trains over the
Mayfair Cut-Off every weekday: one from Chicago in the morning, a
second northbound train at
mid-day, and a third train back to Chicago in the evening. These trains
operated
in a loop, starting from the Wells Street Station, making passenger
stops
at various points in Chicago as well as at Weber, Greenwood, and
Emerson in
Evanston, and then turned south at the Canal
Junction Wye, and returned to Chicago via the north-south main line.
The evening train
made this loop trip in reverse.

The
Weber Yard as it appeared in 1938. Main Street is at the top, Oakton is
at the bottom. The circular feature on the right side of the
picture is the Evanston water tower; to the left is the North Shore
Channel. Photo courtesy Illinois State Geological Survey.

Although the Evanston ordinance only required the C&NW to run one
passenger train in each direction per day, the understanding was always
that more trains would be added as business warranted. Unfortunately,
this was not to be. The C&NW ceased serving the Emerson Street and
Greenwood Boulevard passenger stops when the tracks were elevated in
1910. By 1920, the depot at Emerson Street was boarded up and
abandoned. Although the tracks here were elevated, the depot was left
at ground level; perhaps the railroad felt that passenger demand did
not justify the expense of razing the old depot and building a new one
at track level? Greenwood Boulevard also ceased to be a passenger stop
at the same time, although it remained in use for freight until the
1960s. By 1943, Weber had also
been discontinued as a revenue passenger stop. Two trains a day, one in
the morning and a second in the evening, continued to operate via the
"loop" until 1958 when Weber was discontinued as a terminal for
suburban trains. These
trains were for the convenience of employees working at Weber
and a portion of each trip did not carry revenue passengers. The
Cut-Off through Evanston was abandoned entirely in the mid 1980s.

Canal
Tower, located at Green Bay Road and Simpson Street in the center of
the Canal Wye, controlled traffic entering and leaving the Mayfair
Cut-Off as well as traffic on the main line. It was razed in the early
1990s. Photo by Eric Basir.

Today, little remains within Evanston of the Mayfair Cut-Off. The Weber Yard, all the tracks, and the
interlocking tower at Canal Junction are long gone.
The
viaducts have all been removed, although some of the embankments and
retaining walls still remain. A
shopping mall now
stands where passenger coaches were once stored and steam engines
were once serviced. Narrow, strangely-angled parking lots are scattered
here and there like asphalt gravestones marking the defunct
right-of-way. New condos are going up along the line, at places like
Greenwood Boulevard and the former Edward Hines Lumber site on Church
Street - boy, wouldn't that daily commuter rail service come in handy
right about now? Little by little, redevelopment is healing the long
diagonal scar across the face of the city left by the C&NW's
Mayfair Cut-Off.(Special thanks to Bob Guhr and Hank
Morris for information about the Mayfair Cut-Off.)